Tennis-racket.



No. 881,266. V PATENTED MAR. 10, 1908. c, T. THOMPSON & F. P.' MITCHELL.

TENNIS RAGKET. APPL1OATION FILED JULY 9, 1901.

FIGI

EGI-I UNITED STATES onAnLEs TROTTER PATENT orrion, Q

PETER 'rnms nacmr.

'plements difiiculty has always been ex-' rienced in determining the proper distriution of the combined strength and elasticity which the im lement must possess. As. at resent man actured, the effort to strengt en the handle, stem and throat of the implement has resulted in a stiffening of these parts to such an extent that the breakstrain of any over severe blow now rets in a fracture of th hoop of the implement, usually near' its juncture with the throat. -The effect of this breakin strain can be much modified by rendering t e stem of the racket more elastic, but this must be done without unduly weakening the stem, and particularly without thinning it laterally, which results in impairing its resistance to torsional strains. In order-to effectually resist torsional strains, the stem in the ordinary construction of these implements possesses much greater strength and rigidity than the hoo According to our invention, without unduly weakening the stem and without altering its width (thereby retaining intact its resistance to torsional strain), we have materially increased its elasticity and thereby very materially eased thestrains which fall upon the hoop of the instrument and which have heretofore caused it to break.

Our invention consists in partially or wholly dividing the stem of the implement by a fiat cut or a series of circular holes traversing and lying substantially in the plane of the striking ace of the racket, whereby the re uisite elasticity is imparted to the stem, 1ts strength maintained unimpaired Within the safety point, and its resistance to torsional strain maintained wholly unimaired.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I, is aplan view of an ordinary tennis racket em- Speciflcation of Letters 'I'atent. Application filed m 3,-1901. Serial no; 882,686.

Patented 10, 1908. v I

.ibodying our invention. 11, is aside @16- vation of the same. Fi I is a similar ele- .vation of a racket wit our invention em-' bodied in a modified form. i

Referring to Fig.1, 1, is the handle, 2 the stem, 3 the throat, and 4 the hoop of the implement. By the term stem it is not intended to define any particular form of construction, but rather that portion of the bat between the striking face and the art grasped by the'hand of the operator, w 'ch is termed the handle. This stem and also 7 the handle may be of any desired structure. Preferably, however, the stem, throat and hoop are-formed by the bending around of a single flexible piece of wood, a reinforcing piece 5, filling the interspace at the throat and stem. 'A cut of proper width is made clean through the stem of the implement in the plane of the strikin face, its convenient outline being indicated y the dotted lines 6, 6, in Fig. I, and its other dimensions being seen at 7, in Fi II. In'Fig. III, a similar result is secure by piercing the stem of the racket by a series of apertures 10, occupying substantially .the POSltlOIl of the slot previously described. It willbe noted that in these various constructions the stem is a ertured substantially throughout its lengt in the plane of the strikin face, whereb 1ts re, siliency is increased wit out unduly ecreas-' ing its strength or its resistance to torsional strain. Furthermore, .said slot or aperture should be located in the stem, that is, the part of the bat between thestriking face and the handle or portion grasped by'the hand in manipulating the bat. By locating the aperture at this point, the swing of the face of the bat relative to the handle as the yielding action occurs, is about a' center located in the stem. The radius of said s g movement is therefore, relatively short which allows a quick yielding response as soon as the ball is struck by the bat, and also a nick return to normal position, which enab es the ball to be proper y delivered.

In all of the forms which We have described the width of the stem is unaffected byour construction, thereby maintaining substantially unimpaired the resistance of the stem to torsional strain.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

A tennis racket having a striking face, a

solid handle, and a stem intermedlate said 0 senses handle and said striking face, said stem being signed our names at Philadelphia, Pennsy1- spertured substantially throughout its length Vania, this sixth day of July, 1907.

in the plane of the striking face, whereby its CHARLES TROTTER THOMPSON. resiliency is increased without unduly de- FRANK PETER MITCHELL. creasing its strength or its resistance to tor- Witnesses:

sional strain. JAMES H. BELL,

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto E. L. FULLERTON. 

